2 weeks Ago By Firstpost
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Shahana Goswami, Arrchita Agarwaal, Ritu Parna Sen Directed By: Kanu Behl Language: Hindi Finally we have escaped from the clutches of those massy superheroes that are gratified by the idea of fighting 50 people together in slow motion. In director Kanu Behl’s Despatch , which is streaming on Zee5, Manoj Bajpayee plays a print journalist coming to terms with the arrival of the digital world. His whole professional and personal conflicts unfold in slow-motion.
Behl, along with co-writer Ishani Banerjee, is in no rush to keep the momentum going. It works both for and against the film. It’s nearly 160 minutes long and watching at MAMI meant watching it sans interval.
So no loo breaks, but plenty of rule breaks. That’s precisely what Bajpayee’s character does, named Joy, modelled after late journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, who was shot dead by unknown assailants in 2011. His life is anything but joyous.
On one hand is his profession on the cusp of a revolutionary change, his traumatic and tumultuous relationship with his wife Shahana Goswami, and then comes his most complex bond with his colleague Arrchita Agarwaal. It’s sexual, explosive, and unpredictable. In office, he’s a go-getter, at home, he’s ghastly.
This is the only time when we have no idea what he’ll do next. Will he bed her again? Will they have a fight once more? And Bajpayee is the right actor to essay the restlessness and unpredictability of this journalist. He’s both the hero and the villain of his story, and in between, we see that now famous blend of horror and humour, that straight-face comedy he should do more often.
There are two conflicts he’s saddled with, and he loses in both. But unlike the gobsmacking Tittli , Despatch is never as nerve-racking as it should be, the ‘hushed over rushed’ pace gets restless after a point. Characters after characters are introduced to the plot that go nowhere so ultimately, it’s left for the leading man to do all the heavy-lifting which he has mastered by now.
But despite this hiccup, Despatch raises pertinent questions. What is the future of print journalism with social media and digital taking over? How far is too far to crack a story? Is everything fair in love and war and work? Is there anything called freedom in the world of news? And most importantly, is the pen always mightier than the sword? Given how it all ended for both Jyotirmoy and Joy, we at least have an answer to the last question. Rating: 2.
5 (out of 5 stars) Despatch streams on Zee5 from December 13.
